Source: New Zealand Governor General
E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi nui ki a koutou. Kia ora tātou katoa.
I’d like to specifically acknowledge and welcome you, Dr Jane Goodall, to Wellington, and here to the Grand Hall of Parliament. I understand it’s been nearly five years since you were last here in Aotearoa New Zealand, and we’re honoured to welcome you back.
I know how dearly the Wellington Zoo values the relationship that you’ve developed with them over many years, and how much Wellingtonians appreciated your talk last night at the Opera House. Tēnā koe Jane.
I’d also like to specifically acknowledge: the Honourable Tama Potaka, Minister of Conservation; Mr John Pearson, Deputy British High Commissioner to New Zealand; Dr Neil Gilbert, The Jane Goodall Institute New Zealand; Ms Natasha Beckman, Country Director, British Council New Zealand and the Pacific; Ms Nicola Toki, Chief Executive, Forest & Bird; Dr Brent Clothier, President, The Royal Society Te Apārangi; Mr Phil Wood, President, British New Zealand Business Association; Ms Manea Sweeney, Board Member, Tonkin + Taylor; and Ms Emma Moran, Partner, DLA Piper. Tēnā koutou katoa.
Jane – we can all be grateful for those months and years you spent in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, beginning back in July 1960. The observations you made on the behaviour of chimpanzees remain one of the most significant developments in recent scientific history – forever altering our view of ourselves and the animal species to which we are so closely related.
Those observations could not have been made without an openness to the critical intersection between humans and animals; the instincts and behaviours we share: our deep need for community and companionship, our worst tendencies towards division and cruelty, but perhaps most importantly, our great capacity for creativity, understanding, and love.
While you are the world’s foremost figure in the field of primatology, your work has helped to hold up a mirror to our own nature as a species.
Such a long and distinguished career not only reflects your steely determination, legendary work ethic, and uncanny powers of observation – but also an abiding sense of joy and wonder in the world around you, as well as a generosity of spirit, which, for so many years, has compelled you to share that joy and wonder with others.
At a time when climate change and environmental degradation remain the most pressing issues facing us all, you continue to devote yourself to educating, advocating, and promoting the importance of protecting our natural world.
Throughout my own life and career, including during my time as New Zealand’s Children’s Commissioner, I’ve come to see and understand the great power, goodness, and hope that stem from our young people. I know when they are safe and empowered and loved, the extent of their imagination and courage is boundless.
Through both the Jane Goodall Institute, and Roots and Shoots, you are not only supporting a powerful global movement of conservation and environmental care, you are also encouraging the next generation of conservationists – empowering them to make a positive difference for the future of our planet.
It was the great American astronomer Carl Sagan who spoke so profoundly of the image of our pale blue dot, floating in the vast emptiness of the cosmos: ‘There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot – the only home we’ve ever known.’
I wish to finish by acknowledging all you’ve done, Jane, as kaitiaki, as guardian of our natural world; our home – and for being such a constant and profound source of inspiration and hope to so many. I wish you all the very best for your time in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.
It’s now my great pleasure to invite Dr Jane Goodall and Ms Nicola Toki to the stage.
